Tatar Dialectological School in Kazan University: Origins, formation and development

One of the well-developed scientific areas in Tatar linguistics is dialectology, its main task being the study of the living spoken language of indigenous peoples, that is, local dialects. It studies the phenomena of folk speech that are not included in the literary language, conducts the scientific analysis in this field and determines the territory of their usage. For several centuries, consistent and systematic research workhas been carried out in the area of Tatar people's spiritual culture, the history of various ethnic groups, the characteristics of their language, their way of life and customs. This work, devoted to studying live speech, to recording materials related to individual subdialects and dialects of the Tatar language, to collecting factual material and its scientific interpretation, began in the first half of the 18th century. The scientific study of Tatar dialectology at Kazan University has a history of more than two centuries, so a wealth of experience has been accumulated in this area; the tradition of studying Tatar dialects and subdialects at the university continues to this day, being one of the most relevant and sought-after scientific trends followed by the Department of Tatar Linguistics. For the first time providing its systematic study, this article describes the formation and development of the Kazan University Dialectological School, which is the main object of our research. This constitutes the scientific novelty and relevance of the article. The study of the history of this scientific school in an educational institution goes hand in hand with the study of the scientific research of the outstanding scholars, who made great contributions to Tatar dialectology, leaving rich scientific and methodological heritage.